Paper feeding means



Feb. 15, 1944. M R 2,341,630

PAPER FEEDING MEANS Fil'ed Dec. 6, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A fra /v56.

Feb. 15, 1944. LAMBERT 2,341,630

PAPER FEEDING MEANS Filed bee. 6, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 15, 1944 2,341,630 I PAPER FEEDING MEANS Barry L. Lambert, Enfield, N. Y., assignor to Allen Wales Adding Machine Corporation, Ithaca,

Application December 6, 1940, Serial No. 368,851

1 Claim.

This invention relates to machines for printing characters upon a paper strip and more particar y to calculating machines of the adding and subtracting type. In such machines, the paper strip or tab is passed around a portion of the periphery of a rotatable platen and fed by the platen upwardly through a printing position behind a ribbon. Mechanism is provided for printing numbers upon a zone of the strip behind the ribbon, representing data of the problem being calculated, or results of calculations such as totals and Subtotals, whether positive or negative, and other suitable explanatory characters or indicia. After each printing operation, the platen is given an increment of rotation to feed the strip upwardly and place a new zone in position to be printed upon. This increment of rotation is usually just suificient to present a reasonable space for printing new numbers or symbols or the results of calculations such as totals or subtotals, without unduly crowding together the printed characters and without unnecessary waste of paper. It has heretofore been necessary to manually feed the tape upwardly a greater distance than such increment of movement to enable a portion of it to be torn off and still leave sufiicient of the paper strip above the ribbon to guide the remainder of the strip upwardly. A tear-off bar is usually provided above the ribbon, and such bars have heretofore been formed of metal, but such bars conceal from view any numbers that have been printed on the paper strip and happen to be behind that bar as the strip is advanced by increments.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved machine for advancing the paper strip automatically after characters or numbers have been printed thereon.

A further object of this invention is to provide improved machines for printing characters on a paper strip, with which the paper strip will be given its normal increments of movement or line spacing after each row of digits 01' characters has been printed on the tape, and with which, after the result of a calculation has been printed upon the tape or strip, such strip will then be given a far greater advance or line spacing suflicient to carry the zone just printed upon to a position above the tear-off bar, thereby making it unnecessary to manually rotate the platen in order to move the paper strip upward sufliciently to have the printed zone clear the tear-off bar. Another object of the invention is to Provide an improved tear-off bar which will at no timeobstruct a full view of the entire portion of the paper strip which has been printed upon.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for automatically imparting selected increments of line spacing rotation to the platen, with which the size of such increments may be varied selectively under desired conditions, and with which relatively large increments of rotation may be imparted to the platen whenever desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved mechanism for accomplishing the foregoing objects which will require a minimum of change in existing machines, and which will be relatively simple, compact, dependable, trouble free and inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of one embodiment of the invention, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation through one portion of an adding and subtracting machine in which this invention is incorporated, but illustrating only those portions of a conventional adding machine which affect the feeding of the paper strip through printing positions;

Fig. 2 is an elevation, on a larger scale than Fig. 1, of the pinion and rack shown in Fig. 1, which are employed to impart increments of rotation to the platen;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, on a larger scale than Fig. 1, of the lever and abutment which determine the minimum or normal increment of rotation of the platen;

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation illustrating part of the mechanism for causing the increments of rotation of the platen and the position occupied by the roller during an intermediate period in an operation for the entry of an item such as in the taking of a total or subtotal;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of some of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the relative positions of the parts during an operation in which a much greater increment of rotation is imparted to the platen;

Fig. 6 is a perspective of some of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional elevation taken approximately along the line 1-1 of Fig. 1, but on a larger scale; and

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional elevation through the platen and paper feeding means,

the section being taken approximately along the line 8-8 of Fig. '7.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the improved paper strip feeding means is shown as applied to a conventional addition and subtraction machine, and, to avoid confusion, only those parts of such an adding machine have been illustrated which are directly connected with, or which operate or are operated by the improved feeding means for the paper strip.

In this illustrated embodiment of the invention, the paper strip i is carried in a roll or on a spool ll (Fig. 1) which is rotatably mounted on a spindle extending between the end plates E2 of a paper carriage that is removably secured, such as by screws [3, to a'shoulder i lon the rear end of a frame I5 of the usual conventional type of adding machine. An example of this type of adding machine, by way of explanation, is one which is available at the present time on the open market and manufactured by Allen Wales Adding Machine Corporation of Ithaca, New York, and many of its details are disclosed in U. S. patents, #l,386,02l to Peters and #1354375 to White. In this type of machine there is a main operating shaft I3 extending crosswise of the machine adjacent the rear thereof, and this shaft is oscillated through an angle of approximately 75 during each operation of the motor or crank whenever one enters a number into the machine or records a total or subtotal, and also when the mechanism is operated idly.

This shaft I6 is oscillated through one complete cycle, such as an angle of 75 clockwise in Fig. l and then 75 back in a counterclockwise direction. A roller I1 is rotatably mounted on a flang or disk I8 which is connected to and driven by the shaft l6, and for this purpose the disk l8 may be fixed on the shaft H6 in any suitable manner. When the machine is idle and the shaft I5 is in its normal or starting position, the roller I7 is above the shaft l6 as shown in Fig. 1. When the shaft 16 is oscillated, this roller 11 is carried from the position shown in Fig. l to the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and then returned to the position shown in Fig. 1. The printing on the tape, as will be hereinafter explained, takes place at about the time that roller I1 is in the position shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

The platen Q9, of any usual construction, provided with a ratchet wheel 20 at one end thereof, the platen being suitably mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis in the end plates 52 of the paper carriage. A bell crank lever 21 is pivotally connected by screw 22 to an end plate l2 of the paper carriage, A pawl or pin 23 carried by the free end of one arm of the lever 2| engages with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 20 and is urged into engagement with those teeth by a spring 24 connected between the other arm of the bell crank lever and. a suitable pin 25 on the end plate l2, as shown in Fig. 1. The spring 24 yieldingly urges the pin 23 into the notches forming the teeth of the ratchet 2c, but when the ratchet wheel is turned in a counterclockwise direction in Fig. 1 the pin. 23 will be cammed outwardly by each pressing tooth of the ratchet wheel and will then enter the next notch in succession. This spring pressure which forces the pin 23 into successive notches provides sufficient drag to prevent overrunning of the ratchet wheel when operated to feed the paper strip. The pin 23, by its engagement with the teethof the ratchet wheel yieldingly opposes retrograde or clockwise movement thereof in Fig. 1.

The paper strip l0 after leaving the roll or spool I! (Fig. l) is fed over a suitable guide 26 (Fig. 8), and then down around and beneath the platen i9 and then upwardly, leaving the platen from the side opposite from the guide 26.

Suitable rubber rollers 2'1 disposed beneath the platen press the paper strip against the platen so as to confine it thereagainst with sufiicient friction that the strip 10 will be fed upwardly, by increments, when the platen is given increments of rotation. The paper strip H), as it passes around the platen I9, moves upwardly past an opening '28 (Figs. 6 and '7) in a shield 29. An inked ribbon 3B is guided across the opening 28 by vertically movable guides 3| which may be shifted vertically to a limited extent by arms 32. For this purpose, the arms 32 are connected to one another through a sleeve 33 which is rotatably mounted on a shaft 34, and the guides 3| carry pins 35 which are received in slots 36 in the ends of the arms 32.

Suitable type bars or carriers 31 are disposed side by side in front of the opening 28, and, as usual with this kind of machine, these type carriers are raised to selected positions depending upon the number set up in the keyboard and included in the calculation during the item entry operation. Each carrier or bar 31 mounts a plurality of suitable individual type elements 38 (Fig. '7) which, when reciprocated endwise, print through the ribbon upon the position or zone of the paper strip then aligned with the opening 23. It will be understood that in this type of machine, a hammer bar (not shown) is operable, after the carriers 31 have been selectively set into different elevations, to engage those individual type elements 33 which are then in a row aligned with the hammer bars and drive them against the ribbon for printing upon the paper strip.

Adding machines of thistype also are commonly provided with a total and subtotal lever 39 which is fixed upon the shaft 34 and, when operated in a counterclockwise direction from the normal or inactive position shown in Figs. 1 and 6' to the position shown in Fig. 5, it operates to set the usual mechanism for causing the taking of a total, whether positive or negative, of all of the numbers that have been run into the machine since the last total was taken and the machine cleared. Such mechanism, however, is old and well-known, and since the only part of that mechanism which is affected by the present invention is the lever 39 itself and its shaft 34, the other parts of that mechanism have been omitted in the interest of clarity. The mechanism of the machine is automatically operable during the taking of the total, to automatically release the lever 39 and cause its return to the normal position shown in Figs. 1 and 6.

When a, subtotal is to be taken, the lever 39 is moved clockwise from the position shown in Figs. 1 and 6, and such movement automaticallysets the mechanism to print a subtotal, whether positive or negative, which represents the total then existing since the taking of the last total. The operation of the machine in printing such subtotal does not clear the machine, but the lever 39 is automatically returned to the normal position shown in Figs. 1 and 6. A cam 4! is also rotatably mounted on the shaft 34 and connected to the lever 39 by a sleeve 42, so that whenever the lever 39 isoperated, it shifts the cam 4| in the dwell of cam 4| and hence when the lever 39 is shifted in either direction, such as when the lever is operated to set the machine for the taking of a total or subtotal, the pin 43 will ride up one of the humps. As the pin 43 rides up either hump, it rocks the arm 44 upwardly and through it rocks the shaft 45 against the action of springs 46. Also fixed on the shaft 45, but at the other side of the machine, is an arm 41 having a slot 48 in its free end. This slot 48 embraces a pin 49 carried on one end of a lever 50 which is rOckably mounted on the shaft 34. The other end of the lever 50 is connected by a cross bar to a lever 52 which is pivotally confined upon the end of the shaft 34 in any suitable manner such as by the screw 53 threaded into the end of the shaft M 34. The levers 50 and 52 thus oscillate together as a unit. The lever 52 has an arcuate end 54 which extends beyond the cross bar 5| into a position generally above the shaft 34.

A lever 55 is pivotally confined upon the end of the auxiliary shaft 45 in any suitable manner such as by a screw 55, the shank of which passes through the lever 55 and is threaded into the end of the shaft 45. A pin 51 carried by the lever 55 is disposed above the end 54 of the lever 52, and this arm 54 thus acts as an abutment for limiting downward movement of the lever 55, as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 6. The free end of the lever 55 is pivotally connected by the pin 58 to one end of a link 59 which generally depends from the end of lever 55 to a position approximately over the main or operating shaft IS. The lower end edge of this link 59 is preferably made somewhat arcuate and functions as a cam edge 60. This cam edge 69 rests upon the roller |1 when the roller is at its normal inactive or upper position shown in Fig. l. The link 59, adjacent its lower end, is also provided with a slot 6| which extends generally endwise of the link or approximately vertically and a headed screw 62 has its shank passing through the slot 6| and threaded into the frame plate |5 of the machine, so that the head of the screw 62 will confine the lower end of the link 59 against the frame plate while the shank of the screw guides the link 59 for generally vertical movement.

A rack arm 63 is pivoted by a pin 64 to the link 59, intermediate the ends of the latter, and extends upwardly therefrom toward one end of the platen. A relatively small pinion 65 is fixed to the ratchet wheel so as to rotate therewith, and the free end edge of the arm 63 when brought into engagement with the pinion 65 makes an acute angle to a theoretical line connecting the pivot pin 64 with the axis of rotation of the pinion 65. This end edge of the arm 63 which engages the pinion 65 is provided with rack teeth which mesh with the pinion 65 as shown in Fig. 1. A tension spring 63a is connected between the arm 63 and plate I5 and exerts a pull on the arm 63 which has one component urging the arm into contact with the pinion 65 and another component urging the arm 63 and. the link 59 downwardly toward the shaft l6. Thus the spring 66 tends to urge the cam edge 69 into contact with the roller l1, so that when the shaft l6 operates and oscillates clockwise in Fig. 1, the link 59 will be urged to follow the roller IT as shown in Fig. 5.

If the total and subtotal lever 39 is in the normal inactive position shown in Figs. 1 and 6, it acts through cam 4|, pin 43, arm 44, shaft 45, arm 41', pin 49, arm 59 and cross bar 5| to position the end of the arm 54 in a position immediately below the pin 51 on the lever 55. This limits the downward movement of the lever 55 when the shaft I6 is operated to release the link 59 to a limited extent, which is shown by the full and dash lines of the pin 51 and lever 55 in Fig. 3. This limited movement is so selected that when the link 59 is returned to normal, elevated position of Fig. 1 by the action of the upwardly moving roller I! on the cam edge 60, the rack teeth on the end of the arm 63 will drive the pinion sufliciently to give the platen a desired minimum increment of rotation. Such an increment is represented by the differences between the rows of numbers printed on the tape ID in Fig. 7.

It will be noted that as the link 59 descends, when released by the roller l1 during oscillation of shaft l6, the arm 63 tends to move downwardly and away from the pinion 65, and while the spring 53a urges the arm 63 toward the pinion, the rack teeth of the arm 63 will merely move out of engagement with the pinion 65 and reengage new teeth on the end of the arm 63 with the pinion. The pawl pin 23 prevents retrograde movement of the platen and the ratchet wheel and hence of the pinion 65, and, therefore, while the spring urges the rack teeth on arm 63 into engagement with the pinion, it yields as the arm descends and allows the rack teeth on arm 63 to move downwardly with respect to the teeth of the pinion 65 and get a new driving engagement therewith. While the amount of the drop between the pin 5'! and the arm 54 is not large, as shown in Fig. 3, nevertheless this movement is amplified by the lever 55 extending to the link 59, because the actual linear distance through which the pin 58 moves will be greater than the linear movement of the pin 5'! for a given angular movement of the lever 55.

Thus, the permitted movement of the link 59 when the total and subtotal lever 39 is in normal position shown in Fig. l, is suflicient to move the strip l6 tile desired spacing between successively printed numbers as shown in Fig. 7, and

when the arm 54 is moved out of obstructing position with respect to pin 5! as shown in Fig. 5, the link is allowed to follow the roller I! all the way down and position the rack teeth on the end of arm 53 in engagement with the teeth of the pinion 65 at a point near the upper end of the toothed end edge of the arm 63 as shown in Fig. 5. Then, when the roller I! is elevated during its return movement, the rack teeth on arm will drive the pinion 65 through a relatively large arc of movement which will advance the tape through a relatively great distance sufii cient to carry the zone of the paper strip last printed upon into a position well above the shield 29 and tear-off bar 66.

The bar 66 is secured at its ends by pins 61 to the shield 29 on opposite sides of the opening 28, and the upper edge of this bar 66 is serrated to facilitate tearing off of the portion of the paper strip which has been fed or advanced past this bar. This bar 66 is made of a transparent material so that as the numbers are printed and the paper is given its normal increment of movement,

all of the numbers printed will be visible and none will be hidden behind the bar 65, in case one desires to inspect these numbers at any time before taking a total or subtotal. It is desirable that this transparent tear-ofi bar 65 be nonfrangible, and accordingly, I prefer to make this bar 66 of a transparent resin that may be molded into or cast in the desired shape and size. A number of such resins are available on the open market, but by way of example, one of such resinswhich is satisfactory is sold on the open market under the trade name of Lucite. It is understood that the chemical name of Lucite is methyl methaorylate resin.

In the operation of this improved mechanism, the parts normally have the relative positions shown in Figs. 1 and 6. The numbers to be added or subtracted are set up in the usual keyboard (not shown) and entered into the register, and the numbers so entered are printed on the paper strip ill in the usual manner, during which the shaft H3 is oscillated from the angular position shown in Fig. l to that shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which in this example happens to be an angle of approximately 75. While the shaft I6 is in the angular position shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the printing occurs, and during the return of the shaft IE to the normal position shown in Fig. 1, the roller l7 acts on the cam edge 65 to elevate the link 59 and through the arm 53 imparts to the platen the selected increment of rotation which will advance the paper strip a selected distance between numbers being entered and printed, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

At the beginning of the oscillation of the shaft Is, as the roller l1 starts to descend, it releases the link 59, whereupon the sp ng 63:: ur es th link 59 and the arm 63 downwardly to follow the roller IT. This descent continues until the pin 51 engages the arm 54. Since the ratchet wheel 20 is held against reverse movement by the pawl pin 65, the arm 83 will move downwardly to clear the rack teeth on its edge from the teeth of the pinion 65, but the spring 63a urges the arm 63 in a direction to carry the rack teeth back into en gagement with the pinion 65 as soon as the rack teeth are free to reengage with the pinion. This normal minimum position of the arm 63 is shown by the dash lines in Fig. 2. Then, as the roller l! returns to its normal position, it elevates the link 59 and through the arm 63 imparts an increment of rotation to the platen. During this upward movement of the link 59, the arm 63 will be cammed t the right as its rack teeth drive the pinion 85. Since the driving force on pinion 65 by the arm 83 is obtained from the roller N, there is a positive forward or feeding movement of the paper strip I G.

If one now desires to take a total or subtotal, the lever 39 is rocked in the proper direction to set the mechanism for performing that function, and during such a movement the cam 4| will rock the shaft #5, and through the mechanism connected thereto will rock the arm 54 out of the movement limiting position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, such as into the position shown in Fig. 5. Then, when the shaft I6 is operated to print a total or subtotal, the link 59 will descend a greater distance and will follow the roller l7 all the way down, in which case the arm 63 having the rack teeth descends to a much greater extent, such as into the position shown in Fig. 5. Then, when the roller 11 returns to normal position, it drives the pinion 65 through a much greater increment of rotation and advances the paper strip a much greater distance so as to carry the last printed number, which would be a total or subtotal, above the serrated edge of the tear-oil bar 66 automatically.

It will be understood that various changes in the details and arrangements of parts, which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

'I claim as my invention:

In a calculating machine of the adding machine type having a platen mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis, a paper strip extending partially around and in contact with the periphery of the platen to be advanced upon rotation' of said platen, a printing mechanism operable to print on a zone of said strip confined against said platen, .a shaft operable whenever a number is to be entered and whenever totals and sub-totals are to be printed, and a member operable between three positions, in one of which it is inactive, in another of which it sets the mechanism to print a sub-total, and in the third position of which it causes-the printing of the total and the clearing of the machine, that improvementwhich comprises in combination therewith a pinion connected to and driving said platen, a pivoted lever, a link pivoted to said lever, extending generally at rig t angles to the length of said lever, and having an end portion extending into proximity to said shaft, pin and slot means for guiding said link at a distance from its connection to said lever for generally endwise movement in a generally rectilinear direction toward and from said shaft, an arm pivoted to said link and having rack teeth engageable with the teeth of said pinion, a spring connected to said arm and urging said arm toward said pinion and also through said arm urging said link in a generally endwise direction toward said shaft, said shaft having a cam element engageable with the adja cent end of said link to move the latter endwise in one direction against the action of said spring and cause rotation of said platen through the arm pivoted thereon, an abutment normally limiting the extent to which said lever and link can follow said cam element during the initial movement of said shaft, and means cooperating with said member and said abutment for placing said abutment in movement-limiting position when said member is in said inactive position, and for moving said abutment out of limiting position whenever said member is movable into each of its other positions in which it causes the printing of a sub-total or a total whereby augmented feed of said paper strip is obtained in the latter operations.

' HARRY L. LAMBERT. 

